He rolled, barely avoiding a huge armored fist that crushed the floor and left only stony shards behind. He slashed with his swords but produced nothing but a nick. The immense Minotaur reared up, and dazzling light shot forth from the gorget around its neck. Wherever those beams touched the stone walls, huge holes appeared. The Minotaur swung its head about, roared, and drove both fists downward in an attempt to smash Kratos flat. He bounced one blade off an iron-clad wrist, then rolled forward and cast forth the Blades of Chaos as if they were climbing hooks. He fastened the curved tips into the Minotaur’s armor and yanked, hauling himself up onto the Minotaur’s metal-spined back. Swinging around, he tugged hard, feet pressed into the creature’s back in an attempt to weaken the powerful neck muscles and bring up the head to expose the throat.
The beast roared in defiance and again smashed its fists down hard on the ground, sending Kratos flying through the air. He landed flat on his back. Looking up, he saw the armored Minotaur’s eyes blaze with infernal light. It opened its mouth and spewed deadly fire. Kratos rolled onto his belly and drew himself up barely in time to avoid the devastating breath. From this position, he launched himself again, blades swinging. He singled out the left wrist and succeeded in cutting the straps holding part of the gauntlet to the Minotaur’s hand. It was so little, but it was a start.
Kratos backed away, judged what had to be done, and then did it. He attacked, bringing the creature to its full height; then he somersaulted to the side of the chamber, found the way up to the lower catwalk, and ran to the lever controlling the ballista. The creature roared, and its eyes flashed fiery red as it retaliated. When it opened its mouth to spew forth more flame, Kratos shoved the lever down and sent a ballista bolt directly into the monster’s chest. It stood a little straighter, touched the spot where Kratos had ripped away several armor plates, then screeched in fury and came for him again.
Kratos vaulted off the catwalk, hit the stone floor hard, and used some of his forward momentum to augment the power of his slashing attack. This time he severed part of the Minotaur’s left wrist and was rewarded with a bellow that deafened him. He knew it could be hurt. That meant it could be killed. As he stepped up to take another cut, he grew careless-his minor victory had filled him with false confidence.
The Minotaur’s armored right fist crashed into his blades, tangling their chains, and Kratos found himself lifted high off the floor. Dangling from the chains fused into his forearms, Kratos was powerless to attack-or escape. He stared into the Minotaur’s burning eyes. The monstrous man-bull opened its mouth as if to bite him in two, but Kratos saw the fire within the creature’s gut building. He was going to be roasted as he hung by the chains of his swords. A sharp jerk to the side set him spinning. He heaved and spun in the opposite direction and then bunched his powerful belly muscles and kicked hard. The toe of his boot found purchase against a protruding spike on the Minotaur’s shoulder armor. He swung away as the hell creature’s searing flame erupted from its mouth.
Kratos wrapped his legs around the armor spike, twisted as hard as he could, and wrenched himself upward and back. The chains snapped free and he slid down the Minotaur’s spine, fighting to keep from impaling himself on the spikes mounted everywhere. Kratos caught one, stopped his slide, and immediately renewed his attack. Again the Blades of Chaos served as hooks, but this time he penetrated the armor and sank their punishing tips into man-bull flesh.
The Minotaur roared, reared, and tried to throw him off. Kratos hung on tenaciously, refusing to quit-to die. He got his feet under him and pulled as hard as he could on the chains until the blades ripped free, bringing with them gory hunks of the Minotaur’s neck. From the way the creature’s head drooped now, it was weakening. Grasping the hilts of his swords, Kratos jumped free, cutting at exposed man-bull at every possible opportunity. The left hand, where he had exposed flesh by cutting away armor, proved an exceptionally vulnerable area. He left deep, if not fatal, wounds all the way down the arm before he hit the stone floor once more.
The Minotaur roared in frustration at its wounds, at being unable to crush the Ghost of Sparta. It smashed its fists down in an attempt to turn him to bloody pulp, but again it missed by inches. Kratos waded in and severed an artery on the man-bull’s left forearm. As the blood spurted forth, the creature roared, and light blazed from both neck and eyes. Kratos noted that whenever the deadly beams hit stone now, they caused less damage than before.
He rolled, avoided another furious fist blow, and ran up the steps once more to the catwalk. The Minotaur vented its rage, reared, and presented him with a perfect target. He yanked hard on the lever, firing the ballista. The huge wooden shaft sailed forth and hit the Minotaur in the face, pinning the monster to the door. It shuddered as death throes racked its monstrous body, its thunderous roaring slowly fading.
Kratos caught his breath, waiting for the door to open. It did not. The Minotaur hung suspended from the still-secured door.
Other than the hissing as lava waterfalled from the highest reaches of the chamber, there was only silence. A final convulsive spasm left the Minotaur a ghastly decoration mocking Kratos in its death.
His rage mounted. Looking around for another ballista bolt and not finding it only fed his anger. The Minotaur had died from the heavy shaft; Kratos had thought to send another through it to break down the door, but this was denied him. Pulling the Blades of Chaos out, he dropped from the catwalk and stormed forward, the deadly swords hissing through the air as he swung them. He would carve up the Minotaur and then hack his way through the door. He would not be denied!
As he approached, he saw a new danger. Blood dripped from the man-bull’s sundered head. Every drop hissed and burned the stone floor. The pools of black blood spread, forcing him to vault over them. Then Kratos looked up and saw the horned head loll to the side as it pulled free of the impaling bolt. What had been a steady drip of blood now became a waterfall.
Kratos sprinted forward. Spartans never retreated! He winced as the acid blood spattered his back, his arms, his legs. Pain goaded him forward until he slammed into the door next to a huge bull leg. Panting, he looked up at the body, which was now slowly sliding down the door because the head had pulled free of the bolt. More Minotaur blood cascaded downward, but Kratos ignored it when he saw the condition of the door that had blocked his progress.
A crack in the door made its way downward from where the ballista bolt had slammed through the Minotaur. Hope flared. Kratos drove both blades into the thin fissure. His powerful shoulders screamed in exertion as he levered apart the crack. At first nothing happened. The blades did not budge and the crack did not widen. His entire world was reduced to the pressure he applied to the blades and the waterfall of poisonous blood from above.
Pain. Burning. His muscles at the breaking point. Then Kratos vented a victory cry. The crack exploded in all directions as a section of the door shattered like glass, giving him a crevice hardly the size of his massive body. He turned sideways, squeezed through, and fell to his knees on the far side of the door, only to roll forward as torrents of Minotaur blood gushed after him.
Kratos stood and ran down the new passageway, winding back and forth through the walls until he came to a sarcophagus matching the one he had found earlier. A stone book on a pedestal commemorated the death of the Architect’s second son.
With a savage growl, Kratos jumped to the top of the coffin, shoved back the lid, and tore off the head of this mummified body. He held it high, but, unlike before, he did not think to throw it from him. He stared at it and knew what to do with it, where it fit, knew that it was the key to the Temple of Pandora.